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Trump goes on offensive over Taiwan call, attacks Beijing

WASHINGTON / BEIJING — United States President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at China early on Monday (Dec 5) to defend his engagement with the leader of Taiwan, accusing Beijing of currency manipulation and military expansionism in the South China Sea.

WASHINGTON / BEIJING — United States President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at China early on Monday (Dec 5) to defend his engagement with the leader of Taiwan, accusing Beijing of currency manipulation and military expansionism in the South China Sea. 

Despite the outburst, China gave measured responses, saying that Mr Trump and his team is clear about Beijing’s position on Taipei while Chinese state media continued to downplay a protocol-bending phone call between the tycoon and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday.

Writing on his Twitter account, Mr Trump told his 16.6 million followers early yesterday that he would not be told by China whom he should or shouldn’t talk to, and reiterated some of the grievances about the Asian giant used in his winning presidential campaign. 

“Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don’t think so!” he tweeted.

 

Mr Trump rarely mentioned the South China Sea during his election campaign, but concentrated on the economic relationship with Beijing, threatening to label China as a currency manipulator and impose tariffs on Chinese imports.

China claims most of the energy-rich waters, through which about US$5 trillion (S$) in ship-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

Recent US efforts to counter what it sees as China limiting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea have drawn Beijing’s ire and stoked fears of military conflict.

Over the weekend, Beijing complained to Washington after Mr Trump, who has no foreign affairs experience, flouted almost four decades of diplomatic protocol by directly speaking with Ms Tsai, though US Vice President-elect Mike Pence played down the telephone conversation, saying it was a “courtesy” call that is not intended to show a shift in US policy on China.

The call with Taipei was the first by a US President-elect or President with a Taiwan leader since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China”. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province, to be taken back by force one day, if necessary.

China blamed Taiwan for the call, but also lodged “stern representations” with the US, saying the “one China” policy was the bedrock of relations with Washington.

Commenting on the incident, the Chinese foreign ministry said yesterday (MON) Mr Trump is clear about China’s position on the Taiwan issue and China has maintained contacts with his team.

“The world is very clear on China’s solemn position. The US side, including President-elect Trump’s team, is very clear about China’s solemn position on this issue,” foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.

Although Mr Lu would not be drawn on directly commenting on Mr Trump’s tweets, he defended the China-US relationship.

“The China-US economic and trade relationship has over many years always been a highly mutually beneficial one, otherwise it couldn’t have developed the way it has today,” he said. “China and the United States maintaining good relations, a steadily developing relationship, accords with the joint interests of both peoples.”

Reactions from the Chinese state media was largely muted, with editorials in two newspapers yesterday (MON) saying the telephone call showed Mr Trump’s lack of diplomatic experience.

China’s national English-language newspaper, the China Daily, said the 10-minute call “exposed nothing but the inexperience Trump and his transition team have in dealing with foreign affairs”.

“The action was due to a lack of a proper understanding of the sensitive issues in Sino-US relations and cross-strait ties,” it said.

Training its guns on Ms Tsai, the China Daily said the call “achieves nothing substantial, only pride in making what is an illusionary ‘groundbreaking move’, and temporarily diverting public attention on the island away from her bad performance”.

The Global Times, a hawkish tabloid under the ruling Communist Party’s top newspaper the People’s Daily, said targetting Mr Trump would be inappropriate since he is not yet president. Instead, China could send a message to Mr Trump by punishing Taiwan, wooing away one or two of the island’s diplomatic allies or beefing up military deployments against Taiwan.

Amid the uproar, Taiwan tried to cool things down, with Taiwan’s China affairs minister Chang Hsiao-yueh urging Beijing to consider the matter with a “calm attitude”. 

“The government values ties with (China) and the president has reiterated time and again that Taiwan will not go back to the old way of confrontation... I don’t think there is an act of provocation,” she said. AGENCIES

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